O Brien Wealth Partners LLC Has $179,000 Stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

O Brien Wealth Partners LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 11.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,277 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 173 shares during the quarter. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $179,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in Paychex by 27.4% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 988,417 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $132,636,000 after purchasing an additional 212,700 shares during the last quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD boosted its holdings in Paychex by 4.6% during the third quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 1,567,667 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $210,282,000 after purchasing an additional 68,627 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Paychex by 169.9% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 7,624 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,023,000 after purchasing an additional 4,799 shares during the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Paychex by 2.3% during the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 187,663 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,182,000 after purchasing an additional 4,157 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Miracle Mile Advisors LLC raised its position in Paychex by 91.1% during the fourth quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 10,808 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,515,000 after acquiring an additional 5,153 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PAYX has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $132.23.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of PAYX opened at $146.74 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.84 billion, a PE ratio of 30.89, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00. The company’s 50-day moving average is $143.02 and its 200-day moving average is $138.05. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $114.72 and a fifty-two week high of $151.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.02. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. Paychex’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is 82.53%.

Paychex Company Profile

Paychex, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides integrated human capital management solutions (HCM) for payroll, benefits, human resources (HR), and insurance services for small to medium-sized businesses in the United States, Europe, and India. It offers payroll processing services; payroll tax administration services; employee payment services; and regulatory compliance services, such as new-hire reporting and garnishment processing.